New judges in Shenyang, Liaoning Province take an oath to strictly enforce the law, serve the people, and be honest and upright, on January 14, 2013. Photo: CFP

When Beijing lawyer Jia Qinglin, 42, decided to sign up for the judge selection process, his wife had objections.

His wife, a full-time mother, was worried about the potential drop in income, Jia told the Beijing Youth Daily. "If I became a judge, she'd have to start working," he said.

Judges and prosecutors have been deserting the public legal system in droves due to the high pressure, poor benefits and lack of status. But a few, like Jia, are bucking the trend. Recently, five people including one lawyer and two scholars have taken up new posts at the Supreme People's Court (SPC) via public selection.

After a three-month evaluation involving interviews and background checks, five out of 195 applicants were announced as the final candidates for five vacancies in the SPC. Jia, the youngest candidate, was nominated as a judge for the SPC's civil division.

"It's indeed a pleasant surprise," Jia said. "Becoming a judge, especially a supreme court judge, is a lofty ideal and career pursuit for most lawyers. I'm lucky to have it realized," he told Caijing Magazine.

Looking outside the system

On March 26, Jia stepped into the SPC in Dongcheng district to handle some formalities. It wasn't the first time he had been there, but on previous occasions he had been serving as an attorney. Now he will serve there as a judge.

It was not always his career plan. Holding a PhD in law from the China University of Political Science and Law, Jia has worked as a lawyer for 16 years, mainly on corporation security and trade investment cases. He initially planned to end up as a scholar with a higher education institute, passing on his experience to students.

A recruitment notice issued by the SPC on December 13 changed his plan. Five vacancies for three judges and two researchers of up to department-head rank were made available for qualified candidates across the country. It was a rare chance for private lawyers outside the system to go straight to the top. The requirements included at least 10 years of law-related working experience, and ideally a person who is under 50 years old, who holds a master's degree in law or above.

"At the beginning, I was skeptical about the selection's authenticity. Such open selections are rather rare," Jia said.

In 2000 and 2006, the SPC also offered some positions to lawyers and scholars, but directly recruiting bureau-level judges outside the system was still "almost unimaginable," Zhang Kelie, a young court clerk in Ji'an, Jilin Province, told the Global Times.

Working hard on his career track, Zhang said that the normal selection process of judges contains two channels: internal promotion of qualified clerks like him, and law school graduates who passed the civil servant examination.

Liu Xutao, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, said that this kind of promotion system is outdated compared with international professional development paths for judges, and has stunted progress in terms of the professional abilities of judges.

Zhang Xinqiang, 49, who has been a Guangzhou-based lawyer for 25 years, also applied for the selection process. But some colleagues considered him "crazy" for his decision. "Being a good judge, the salary is fixed and small. But if you are a lawyer, one or two cases can earn money equal to a judge's entire annual income," Zhu Xiaoding, a lawyer from the Beijing Cailiang Law Firm, said to the Phoenix Weekly.

Wounded pride

Another concern surrounding judges is that their professional pride has been degraded by a lack of independence.

"In some cases, the judge has no decision-making power. The verdicts are decided by cadres, trial committees, or even other factors. The judge hears the case but doesn't really make a ruling, and just signs the verdict," Zhu said.

The way regional courts are funded - usually by local governments - contributes to their lack of judicial independence.

According to statistics unveiled by Mu Ping, president of the Beijing Higher People's Court, in March, more than 500 judges, or 12 percent of judges in the municipality, resigned or moved out of the court system over the past five years and this brain drain has been accelerating.

Liu Hongyu, a lawyer from Beijing and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, voiced similar concerns at the annual two sessions.

"The personnel outflow in courts, especially the young talents with high education qualification in central and western regions, is very serious," Liu said. She cited data from an unnamed province in central China, which indicated that 1,733 judges, or 82 percent of the total court staff workers quit between 2008 and 2012.

Meanwhile, Chi Susheng, a noted lawyer from Heilongjiang Province and former deputy to the National People's Congress, said that the widespread poor qualifications of the current judges in the country must be dealt with.

According to the Judges Law, two years of work experience for non-law graduates or one year for someone with a Bachelor of Law is required in order to be a judge. But people holding a master's degree in law or a PhD can become one without any work experience.

Selection in focus 

The authorities have recognized the problem. In November last year, the SPC issued a document stating the judicial workforce should be upgraded.

Zhou Qiang, president of the SPC, has been striving to improve the court personnel system and increase the number of opportunities for promotion for grass-roots workers during this year's two sessions.

A personnel official from the SPC said improving the selection and appointment system for judges will be a focus in the future. "We will blend public selection, interior nomination and selection from lower level court staff members, so as to improve the overall quality," the official told Caijing Magazine.

The open recruitment process used on this occasion was an important trial program, and the number of applicants was beyond the expectations of recruiters.

Gao Zicheng, a top lawyer and also a regular guest to SPC seminars, said the open recruitment will benefit talent flow and mutual understanding in the community.

"Taking in highly qualified people in would also stimulate current SPC employees to work harder," he told the Global Times.

Of the 195 people from 28 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities who signed up, there were 76 scholars and 75 lawyers. Some 150 were qualified.

"Presently, the judges bear high pressure with a low salary. We were not confident at the beginning whether there would be enough qualified legal workers applying for the jobs," the official said.

The SPC piloted programs to recruit talent from the public early in 1999. But due to high requirements like being a first-grade lawyer or professor and holding a Beijing hukou (household registration), the recruitment drive to find 10 judges failed to attract enough candidates.

"There are few incentives for promising lawyers and professors to give up vested status and well-paid jobs and take up a post with more institutional constraints," said Fu Yulin, law professor from Peking University. "The professional glory is the only attraction."

But some feel that there is no glory.

"In some cases, the judge is unable to rule but has to shoulder the accountability, and is restricted by unreasonable assessment indices formulated by some officials not working on the front line," Fu told the Caijing Magazine. "Some high-level judges feel that they are not trusted and have little sense of dignity, and it's better for them to be a lawyer to earn some money."

But despite this lack of glory, lawyers still signed up for the rigorous selection process. As part of this, an ethics and discipline panel conducted background checks into their political past and evaluated their work styles and "morality." They also checked the immigration situation of their spouses and children as well as their online activities.

Zhang Xinqiang from Guangzhou entered the final 25, but failed. "I feel gratified. Participation matters more than the result," he said, adding that some young lawyers have expressed to him their desire to be a judge. "I told them to be clean and upright, and focus on improving their capability, otherwise there wouldn't even be a chance to enter the first round of the selection process."

"The lawyers have a deeper understanding and comprehension of social circumstances and public opinion," said Guo Feng, dean of the Law School of the Central University of Finance and Economics, who has been selected as a deputy director of the SPC's research department.

"I hope to devote myself to this critical moment of judicial progress and reform in China," Guo said.

Meanwhile, there are still some concerns over whether the lawyer-turned judges can dispense justice without showing preference to the attorneys or clients they had worked with in the past.

Jia said he would avoid cases represented by the law firms he worked for or cases that involve former clients. "Upholding honesty and the rule of law is the bottom line. If I can't do that, it's pointless. If I compete to just gain an empty reputation, why bother?" he told the Beijing Youth Daily.

The SPC has made a positive step with the open recruitment, but establishing a kind of "revolving door" between legal professionals, incentives for current judges are equally important as professional status,  said Liu Junhai, a law professor wit the Renmin University of China. "The red tape must be removed, judges are not officials, they should be able to make sound judgment without barriers," he said.

Agencies contributed to this story